Community

Community Partners

The Chicago Fire Foundation and our community partners are dedicated to enriching the lives of the Chicagoland community. The following is a list of our current charity partners. We are excited to work with these organizations and continue our outreach into the community.

MLS W.O.R.K.S

Launched in April 2007, MLS W.O.R.K.S. is Major League Soccer's community outreach initiative dedicated to addressing important social issues and serves as a platform for both League and club philanthropic programs. MLS W.O.R.K.S. seeks to establish Major League Soccer as a leader for improving the lives of people through sport.

MLS W.O.R.K.S. supports both national and international organizations dedicated to bettering the world we live in, including the UNICEF, the UN Foundation's Nothing But Nets campaign, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Make-A-Wish Foundation, Grassroot Soccer, Hope & Heroes and many others.

The Chicago Fire are proud to support the Don’t Cross the Line campaign. Click here to learn more and take the pledge!

City Year is an education-focused, nonprofit organization that combats the nation’s dropout epidemic by uniting young people of all backgrounds for a full year of full-time service in high-need schools. These young people, referred to as “corps members,” keep students in school and on track to graduation by serving as tutors, mentors, and role models. City Year currently has locations in 25 U.S. cities and two international affiliates.

As a part of a new partnership with City Year Chicago, the Chicago Fire Soccer Club is sponsoring 11 City Year corps members who will work full time at Carl Schurz High School. Each school year, corps members will help impact the lives of more than 730 ninth grade students. The partnership was made possible by a grant from the Hauptman Family Foundation.

Special Olympics is a global organization that unleashes the human spirit through the transformative power and joy of sport, every day around the world. The Chicago Fire is proud to support Special Olympics of Illinois in their mission to provide year-round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic-type sports for children and adults with intellectual disabilities, giving them continuing opportunities to develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage, experience joy and participate in a sharing of gifts, skills and friendship with their families, other Special Olympics athletes and the community.

The Chicago Fire and Special Olympics Illinois introduced members of their inaugural UnifiedSoccer All-Star team, a squad composed of Illinois-based teens with and without intellectual disabilities. The team will train together in preparation for a matchup with Special Olympics Oregon, which will be held in conjunction with the Chicago Fire First Team’s Aug. 7 road match at Portland Timbers. The Unified Soccer team also will be recognized in a special send-off event during the Fire’s June 24 home match against D.C. United.

The Chicago Fire is proud to partner with the Greater Chicago Food Depository and support their efforts to help collect food and raise awareness for the hundreds of thousands of men, women and children who struggle to find food every day. The Greater Chicago Food Depository, Chicago’s food bank, is a nonprofit food distribution and training center providing food for hungry people while striving to end hunger in the community.

The Food Depository distributes, donated and purchased food through a network of 650 pantries, soup kitchens and shelters. In 2014, the Chicago Fire donated 481 pounds of food which provided 400 quality meals for hungry families in Cook County.

The Lisa Family Foundation is a 501(c)(3) private non-profit foundation that supports causes that strive to improve the overall quality of life for underprivileged children and others in need, focusing its efforts on health and education. The Foundation has funded scholarship programs at multiple universities, in addition to its establishment of Arizona State University’s Lisa Foundation Patent Law Clinic. It also recognizes the importance of education and an active lifestyle in today’s youth, stressing the life-changing impact that participation in after-school sports and other physical activities can have on a child's life, both on the field and in the classroom. The Lisa Family Foundation has partnered with the Chicago Fire Foundation to support these efforts by serving as a sponsor for both the Kicks for Kids program and the 2014-2015 P.L.A.Y.S. Program.

WORLD SPORT CHICAGO

World Sport Chicago is an independent, non-profit organization that teaches positive values and leadership through sport. The organization acts on the belief that sport has the power to strengthen individuals, and in turn, Chicago’s communities. World Sport Chicago promotes programs and events and collaborates with several community partners, public agencies and Chicago’s professional sports teams to deliver impact and change.

In 2013, the Chicago Fire Foundation in partnership with World Sport Chicago launched the P.L.A.Y.S. Program which focuses specifically on developing social and emotional learning characteristics in elementary school students.

Academy for Urban School Leadership (AUSL), created in 2001, is a non-profit organization whose mission is to improve student achievement in Chicago’s high-poverty, chronically failing schools through its disciplined transformation process, built on a foundation of specially trained AUSL teachers. In 2013, the Chicago Fire Foundation launched the soccer and academic focused P.L.A.Y.S. Program in 8 AUSL schools throughout Chicago.

Urban Initiatives is a nonprofit organization that runs a health and education soccer program, called the Work to Play Program, in the Chicago Public Schools (CPS). By actively engaging participants in extracurricular activities at a young age, Urban Initiatives empowers youth to live a healthy lifestyle, value education, and enhance their personal and social development. The Chicago Fire Foundation is proud to partner with Urban Initiatives to utilize a collaborative, whole child approach to development in order to provide children with the opportunity to reach their full potential.

America SCORES Chicago partners with schools to provide a high-quality, team-based program that integrates soccer, poetry, and service-learning. The Chicago Fire Foundation is proud to partner with America SCORES Chicago to help grow the sports of soccer by providing children in undeserved communities in the Chicagoland area with the opportunity to experience the beautiful game

The Boys & Girls Clubs of Chicago provides hope, stability and opportunity for more than 13,840 young people per year throughout 32 Clubs in the Chicago area. Each Club is supervised by caring and trained professionals who engage kids in more than 200 activities each year. Club leaders and staff members believe their work is an opportunity to positively shape the future of America. Boys & Girls Clubs’ programs have taken members from the Clubhouse to the White House; from the game room to the corporate boardroom; and from the drum corps to Orchestra Hall. The Chicago Fire Foundation is excited to partner with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Chicago and support its mission to enable all young people, especially those who need us most, to reach their full potential as productive, caring, responsible citizens.

The Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago is Illinois' only freestanding hospital exclusively for kids. Ranked #1 in almost every major pediatric specialty, they provide superior pediatric healthcare in a compassionate, family-centered environment. Through this partnership, the Chicago Fire Foundation will work with Lurie Children’s Institute for Sports Medicine to provide funding for its Knee Injury Prevention Program (KIPP) which is designed to lower the risk of ACL injuries in athletes.

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) is an organization with a mission to cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and myeloma, and improve the quality of life of patients and their families. LLS has dedicated itself to being one of the top-rated voluntary health agencies in terms of dollars that directly fund their mission.

In 2013, the Chicago Fire Foundation partnered with the LLS for their “Soccer Kicks for Cancer” program. Youth soccer players solicited pledges for every time the player touched a soccer ball over a ten-day period, with the goal of 2,000 touches. In support of LLS’ great cause and their alignment with the values of the Foundation, CFF gave over $10,000 in 2013.

The Chicago Fire Soccer Club in partnership with Heineken are recognizing supporters who pledge to never drink and drive. Whether you are the designated driver or you have made alternate transportation plans, you have the opportunity to be the Responsible Fan of the Match! During each home game, you can take the pledge at Gates A, C and Guest Services to be entered to win a Chicago Fire and Heineken Prize Pack! Winners from each match were recognized at TOYOTA PARK.

THE GREAT CHICAGO FIRE FESTIVAL

Presented by Redmoon, the inaugural Great Chicago Fire Festival introduced what will become an annual tradition celebrating the diversity of Chicago's great neighborhoods and the City's powerful spirit of renewal.

The Festival culminated on October 4th, 2014 with a grand procession and fire spectacle on the main branch of the Chicago River. Tens of thousands watched the procession and spectacle from Chicago’s newly developed riverfront, featuring acrobatics, live music, wild mechanical objects, and more. The festival was a city-wide signature event that so genuinely reflects the city that it becomes a cultural and economic beacon for Chicagoans, the nation, and the world.

As a part of Soccer Kicks Cancer, MLS, MLS W.O.R.K.S, the Chicago Fire are participating in MOVEMBER, a moustache growing campaign that raises awareness for men’s health issues, specifically prostate and testicular cancer initiatives.